FALL RIVER - A recorded phone call between murder suspect Marcus Mitchell and a witness who cooperated with police investigating a 2009 homicide will be allowed into evidence when Mitchell stands trial in Fall River Superior Court.

On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturned a Superior Court judge’s previous ruling that the phone call could not be admitted into evidence because the cooperating witness did not discuss the murder during their conversation, thus making the recording “an unauthorized interception.”

State police detectives had instructed the witness to discuss with Mitchell the May 2009 murder of Troy Pina, a Taunton man who was killed during a drive-by shooting on Route 24 in Freetown.

Mitchell was a suspect in that murder, and he was present during a July 2010 motor vehicle stop when the cooperating witness was arrested on a gun charge. Mitchell left a gun in the car and ran off before police could stop him, according to court documents.

The cooperating witness told police he had to discuss the July 2010 arrest before talking about Pina’s murder or else it would raise Mitchell’s suspicion. During the phone call, the witness chided Mitchell for leaving his firearm in the car, and asked him if there were “any bodies” on the gun. Mitchell admitted the gun was his, and said he did not know if the firearm had been used in any homicides. However, the conversation “became heated,” and the witness ended the phone call without discussing Pina’s murder, according to court documents.

Detectives were still able to build their case that led to Bristol County grand jury, in 2011, to indict Mitchell, 25, Thomas Jeffreys, 35, and Jose Fernandes, 28, with murder in 2011. Prosecutors said the trio - allegedly calling themselves the Supreme Team - drove in two separate cars on Route 24 and shot at a vehicle driven by Pina’s associate, Francisco Monteiro. Pina, who was sitting in the passenger’s seat, was the only person struck by gunfire.

Prosecutors said the shooting stemmed from a long-running between the “Supreme Team” and Pina, Monteiro and their associates. Jeffreys and Fernandes are currently serving life sentences in state prison. They were both convicted of first-degree murder following their respective trials in Fall River Superior Court.

Mitchell is awaiting trial. When testimony begins, the jury will hear the recorded conversation between Mitchell and the cooperating witness. The SJC said the recording can be used as evidence because police acted “in good faith” when they arranged the phone conversation between the witness and Mitchell.

The cooperating witness - who, after agreeing to cooperate in the murder investigation, was released from custody while awaiting trial on the gun charge - also proved to be a “reliable” prosecution witness in the Pina murder investigation, according to court documents. The witness identified some of the involved suspects and the whereabouts of one firearms used in the shooting. The witness also engaged another Supreme Team member in numerous recorded conversations during the murder investigation, including an alleged plot to kill a witness, according to court documents.